Drugs and Medicines

Any parent or grandparent with a half-empty bottle of a prescription painkiller in the medicine cabinet could unwittingly contribute to the heroin epidemic, panelists said during a Thursday forum on curbing drug and alcohol abuse by young people.

A common story that Lake County professionals say they hear over and over again goes something like this: A high school athlete suffers a sports injury and becomes hooked on the painkiller his or her physician prescribes. The young person looks elsewhere for the drug, often turning first to the medicine cabinet. Eventually, the addicted youth discovers that a $5 bag of heroin provides the same relief as a $40 or $50 bottle of pain pills...

Related "Drugs and Medicines" Articles

Any parent or grandparent with a half-empty bottle of a prescription painkiller in the medicine cabinet could unwittingly contribute to the heroin epidemic, panelists said during a Thursday forum on curbing drug and alcohol abuse by young people.
A...

Escalating prices of the drug naloxone may threaten efforts to reduce opioid-related deaths across America, a team from Yale University and the Mayo Clinic warns.
Naloxone is a drug given to people who overdose on prescription opioids or heroin. If...

Before the University of Chicago Medicine Center for Advanced Care opens for business Tuesday in Orland Park, area residents can get an early look inside Friday.
The U of C will hold an open house at the center, at the northwest corner of LaGrange Road...

At least 1 in 10 children received unnecessary medical services in 2014 — causing them potential harm and costing families more than $9 million, according to a study out of the University of Chicago.
The study found at least 9.6 percent of kids...

Nationally the average hip replacement patient spends 3 days in the hospital and three months out of work.
But that wasn't fast enough for Steven R. of Hoffman Estates. The 60-year-old says, "I walked out of the hospital the day after surgery...

Biotech and pharmaceutical stocks rose after the November election, reflecting investor optimism that a Trump presidency would mean less focus on drug prices.
Not so fast, President-elect Trump said in his interview for Time magazine's "Person of...

British regulators fined U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and distributor Flynn Pharma a record 89.4 million pounds ($112.7 million) Wednesday for increasing the cost of an epilepsy drug by as much as 2,600 percent.
Pfizer and Flynn Pharma charged "excessive...

An Evanston woman who was allegedly under the influence of prescription drugs when she rear-ended another vehicle has been charged with driving under the influence and misdemeanor endangering the life/health of a child, authorities said Friday.
Dana M....

Since the dawn of time, people have used ointments, powders and potions to try to improve their health. Many of these elixirs have been inert - lacking any property to actually heal illnesses or makes bodies stronger. Still, they persist because people...

Horizon Pharma charges more than $2,000 for a month’s supply of a prescription pain reliever that is the combination of two cheap drugs available separately over the counter.
Another company, Novum, sells a small tube of a prescription skin rash...

Northwestern University and North Chicago-based pharmaceutical company AbbVie will spend the next five years working together researching ways to fight cancer, AbbVie announced Monday.
AbbVie will fund research at Northwestern's Robert H. Lurie...

Last fall, the biotech executive Martin Shkreli became widely reviled for hiking the price of a lifesaving drug by more than 4,000 percent overnight, to $750 per pill.
Public outrage at Shkreli has apparently reverberated all the way to a high school...

Illinois is like a middle-aged, overweight smoker who likes junk food and shuns exercise.
Doctors tell Illinois if it keeps going down this path, it's going to drop dead of a heart attack.
The patient says he wants to live healthier. He's taking...

Illinois is like a middle-aged, overweight smoker who likes junk food and shuns exercise.
Doctors tell Illinois if it keeps going down this path, it's going to drop dead of a heart attack.
The patient says he wants to live healthier. He's taking...

Are you having trouble sleeping at night because the need to urinate keeps nudging you awake?
If so, you're not alone. More than one-third of adults 30 and older make at least two trips to the bathroom every night, according to the National...

Congressman Dan Lipinski (IL-3) joined with colleagues from both sides of the aisle last night to pass the 21st Century Cures Act. The bill will boost funding for biomedical research, and streamline and update the approval process for medical...

About three in five American adults are prescribed medication by their doctors. According to a study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 59 percent of Americans age 20 and above are taking prescription drugs as of 2012. The...

After a heavily armed San Bernardino County employee and his wife attacked a county holiday event last Dec. 2, killing 14 people and wounding 22, county leaders sounded a clear message of support for their workers.
“The events of that day could have...

The House overwhelmingly backed broad legislation Tuesday to increase federal support for medical research, advancing a long-anticipated bill that is expected to clear the Senate soon and get President Obama’s signature.
The $6.3-billion bill...

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. has decided to keep and invest in its gastrointestinal-drugs division after talks to sell the unit to Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. fell apart, according to people familiar with the matter.
The discussions broke...